College Basketball Capsules: No. 22 Maryland beats 4th-ranked Duke 79-72
Comments 0COLLEGE PARK, Md. — On one glorious night, Maryland bid farewell to its three standout seniors, avenged a bitter loss to Duke and moved into a tie with the Blue Devils atop the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Greivis Vasquez scored 20 points, including a clutch basket with 37 seconds left, and 22nd-ranked Maryland beat No. 4 Duke 79-72 Wednesday for its sixth straight win.
It was the final home game for Vasquez, who was honored with seniors Landon Milbourne and Eric Hayes before the game.
Afterward, fans stormed the court to celebrate Maryland's first win over Duke in seven tries.
"You couldn't really ask for a better script than that," said Hayes, who scored 13 points. "The ACC regular-season title was on the line; it was just a real special night."
Jordan Williams had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Terrapins (22-7, 12-3), who haven't lost since falling to the Blue Devils by 21 on Feb. 13.
"This is a dream come true," Vasquez said.
Nolan Smith scored 20 for Duke (25-5, 12-3) and Jon Scheyer had 19. The defeat ended the Blue Devils' eight-game winning streak.
"Playing a big-time game like this was good for both teams," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Our guys were in a position to win the game. I'm proud of that.
"It was tough because it was a game where we played well. It wasn't a game when we played bad or played stupid. It wasn't like that. This wasn't a game where bad stuff happened."
Duke center Brian Zoubek, who had 16 points and 17 rebounds in Duke's earlier win over Maryland, finished with four points and 13 boards.
Both teams have one game left in the regular season. Maryland travels to Virginia on Saturday, and Duke hosts North Carolina.
The final minutes featured several outstanding shots, each more important than the last.
Scheyer hit a 3-pointer to put Duke up 63-60 with 5:25 to go, and Vasquez tied it with a jumper from beyond the arc. Scheyer then scored on a drive, but Maryland answered with a hook shot in the lane from Adrian Bowie and a fadeaway jumper by Vasquez.
It was 69-all before Williams scored on a follow. Then, after Duke missed twice, Vasquez tucked the ball to his chest and bulled his way to the basket before launching a shot that dropped through the net, making it 73-69.
"It was a tough shot," Vasquez said. "It was meant to be."
Sean Mosley added two free throws with 26.2 seconds left.
"It comes down to a possession or two of theirs. They made a couple of their shots, we missed a couple of ours," Scheyer said. "That's the way it goes."
Maryland finished unbeaten at home in the ACC and 15-1 overall. Afterward, coach Gary Williams gave some of the credit to the enthusiastic fans.
"The crowds have been great," he said. "We really appreciate that from our fans."
The Terrapins thrilled the crowd by getting off to a sizzling start.
Maryland led 7-0, 19-7 and 33-19 before Duke settled down. The Blue Devils took their first lead when Scheyer opened the second half with a 3 to make it 41-40.
Duke led 47-44 before Williams made a three-point play, Bowie scored on a drive and Milbourne added a dunk. After a layup by Scheyer, Bowie connected from long range to put the Terps up 54-49.
But Smith hit a tough baseline jumper and then converted a three-point play to tie it with 9:11 left, and after a series of misses by both teams, Smith's driving layup put Duke back in front.
The lead went back and forth until Maryland's closing 10-3 burst.
The Blue Devils ended the first half with a 19-7 run to get within 40-38.
Duke missed its first six shots and fell behind 7-0 before a tip-in by Zoubek ended the drought. Milbourne followed with a 3-pointer, but he picked up his second foul on Maryland's next possession and was forced to take a seat on the bench.
The Blue Devils were 1 for 8 and trailed 10-2 when officials noticed a snag in the net and replaced it. Kyle Singler promptly drilled a 3 before a reverse layup by Hayes and a three-point play by Williams — off a no-look pass from Vasquez — sparked an 11-3 run that made it 21-8.
At that point, Scheyer, Singler and Smith were a collective 1 for 9.
The trio accounted for Duke's next four baskets, and a layup by Zoubek got the Blue Devils to 25-19. Mosley then hit a jumper for Maryland, and successive 3-pointers by Hayes and Mosley boosted the margin to 14.
It was 40-29 before Duke ended the half with a three-point play by Singler and 3-pointers by Smith and Scheyer.
"They made every shot, we missed every shot — although we were getting good looks," Scheyer said. "We felt pretty good going into halftime, knowing that was their best shot."
Wall scores 24, No. 3 Kentucky beats Georgia 80-68
ATHENS, Ga. — John Calipari waited until Wednesday morning's shootaround to remind his Kentucky players they were playing for more than a national championship.
Sensing they needed a lift, Calipari said he told his players, "Stop. Do you understand what we're playing for today?"
The answer was the Southeastern Conference championship. After the coach's reminder, No. 3 Kentucky clinched at least a share of the regular-season title by beating Georgia 80-68 on Wednesday night.
Calipari said the Wildcats were "sharp" and "focused" on the immediate goal.
John Wall had 24 points and Patrick Patterson added 17 points and 10 rebounds for the Wildcats, who scored the first 12 points of the second half and maintained control from there.
Kentucky (28-2, 13-2 SEC) bounced back from a loss at then-No. 19 Tennessee and moved one game ahead of Vanderbilt in the race for the league's best record. The Wildcats, who swept Vanderbilt, already own the tiebreaker and the top seed in the SEC tournament.
Before the shooting practice, all of Kentucky's focus had been on winning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Calipari said there had been no mention of the conference race.
"We never talked about it before the morning shootaround," said Calipari, who joined Tubby Smith and Eddie Sutton as the only Kentucky coaches to win SEC titles in their first seasons.
Kentucky, which won a share of its 44th SEC title, snapped a streak of four straight home wins for Georgia (13-15, 5-10).
Wall hit three 3-pointers to help the Wildcats shake their recent shooting slump. The star freshman added six assists and three steals.
Calipari said he was happy with his team's second-half defense but still worried about its lack of consistency.
"We have so much growing up to do and it's worrying me a little bit," Calipari said. "We're going to go into this big tournament and, I don't know, it's just a little worrisome right now."
The Wildcats led 40-36 at halftime before turning up their defensive pressure in the opening minutes of the second half. Georgia, which had six turnovers in the first half, added six turnovers in the first three minutes of the second half.
Kentucky had eight steals and a season-high 14 blocks, including a career-high six by freshman DeMarcus Cousins.
"We know that our defense is going to take us to the next level," Patterson said. "It's going to take us to the championship, if we get there. We know we are a defensive team. That comes first and defense wins championships. Tonight in the second half we started playing like a defensive team."
Kentucky scored 24 points off Georgia's 15 turnovers. The defense also set up some easy fast-break baskets as the Wildcats shot 54.4 percent from the field, their high mark in the SEC this season.
"Kentucky's talent gets all the attention," Georgia coach Mark Fox said. "It takes away from the fact that they are the No. 1 defensive team in the league and the No. 1 rebounding team in the league. They will win plenty of games because they have good players, but they will win even more because they are a very good defensive basketball team."
Wall opened the second half with a 3-pointer and added a three-point play in the 12-0 run. Eric Bledsoe's steal and two free throws capped the spurt for a 52-36 lead.
Jeremy Price led Georgia with 19 points. Ricky McPhee had 12 points, including three 3-pointers to lead a comeback attempt midway through the second half. McPhee's 3 with 5:16 remaining cut the Kentucky lead to 72-63. Patterson scored to push the Wildcats' edge back to double figures.
Georgia's Trey Thompkins, who was called for his fourth foul with 11:03 remaining, had 12 points. Travis Leslie had eight points and 10 rebounds.
Kentucky made only two of 22 3-point attempts in Saturday's 74-65 loss at Tennessee. A recent trend of poor shooting from the perimeter dropped the Wildcats' to 11th in the league in 3-point shooting at 29.1 percent.
The Wildcats showed from the start they would not be shy about shooting from beyond the 3-point line. Darius Miller missed a 3 on Kentucky's first possession, but Wall made two 3s in the first 6 minutes. Darnell Dodson, who had 11 points, hit back-to-back 3s later in the opening half.
Georgia took a 23-17 lead midway through the first half.
-- Charles Odum
Moore, Kramer lead No. 7 Purdue past Indiana 74-55
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Chris Kramer's performance on Senior Night was nearly perfect.
The only thing that could top it for him would be helping Purdue win a Big Ten championship.
Kramer had a season-high 18 points and six assists in his final home game to help the seventh-ranked Boilermakers beat Indiana 74-55 on Wednesday night.
If Purdue wins at Penn State on Saturday, the Boilermakers will earn a share of the conference title. It would be Purdue's first regular-season championship since 1996.
"It's something nobody can take away from you," Kramer said. "It would mean a lot to us."
Kramer did his part to put his team in position. The guard, known as a defensive stopper, shot 7 of 8 from the field and had six assists.
"Chris will have a game like that every blue moon," Purdue coach Matt Painter said. "He stepped up tonight and made shots."
It was Purdue's first win since losing versatile forward Robbie Hummel for the season to a torn ACL in his right knee.
E'Twaun Moore scored 21 points and JaJuan Johnson added 14 points, seven rebounds and four blocks for the Boilermakers (25-4, 13-4 Big Ten), who bounced back from a loss to Michigan State on Sunday that came in their first game without Hummel. Purdue scored just 44 points against the Spartans, but the Boilermakers shot 49 percent against the Hoosiers.
"I think we're getting used to playing without Robbie," senior Keaton Grant said. "Robbie makes everything a lot easier. We just had to get in the flow of not playing with him. We got in a rhythm."
Hummel, Moore and Johnson have been the headliners the past three years, but Indiana coach Tom Crean said Kramer deserves his due.
"As good as those three are who get a ton of the credit, he is the energy source," Crean said. "He just out-toughs you, and his will is so strong. We need to put a picture of him up in our coaches' office because that's the kind of guy we need to have in our program."
Kramer, who is 6-foot-3, even guarded Indiana's post players at times.
"I don't think there's any matchup that he loses over a consistent period of time," Crean said. "He's too athletic, and he's just too tough and strong."
Verdell Jones III scored 15 points and Derek Elston added 13 points and seven rebounds for Indiana (9-20, 3-14), which lost its 11th straight game.
"We knew coming into this game tonight, with the battle cry they have of playing without Robbie and the fact that they had the loss that they had on Sunday to MSU, that we would really, really have to play well, and we didn't," Crean said.
Purdue got off to a much better start against Indiana than against Michigan State. The Boilermakers made six of their first eight shots to take a 13-5 lead.
Moore scored nine points in the first 6½ minutes to put the Boilermakers up 18-8. They shot 56 percent to lead 38-25 at the break.
Purdue continued to roll early in the second half. A 3-pointer by Kramer put the Boilermakers up 48-31.
Indiana's Jordan Hulls made a 3 in transition to trim Purdue's lead to 12 and force the Boilermakers to call a timeout.
Moore scored six points during a 10-3 run that gave the Boilermakers a 59-39 lead midway through the second half, and the crowd showed its appreciation with a standing ovation.
Painter was happy to see Moore get his offensive game going after he shot 3 for 13 against Michigan State.
"I think the ball went in, more than anything," Painter said. "You're not going to have as much space when Rob Hummel isn't in there. Against Michigan State, he never got on track.
"The ball is going back to him, and he knows it. We're going through JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore. When (Moore) gets going, we're going to be pretty good."
Kramer made his first six shots, but his perfect shooting night ended when his seventh attempt rolled in and out with 12:20 remaining.
Grant was replaced with 1:41 to play, and Kramer with 1:26 remaining. Now, the Boilermakers will look forward to Penn State, with a chance to add a regular-season title to the Big Ten tournament championship they won last year.
"We needed to get back on track so we can finish the season strong," Grant said. "We've got one game, 40 minutes, to get us another ring. That's the most important thing."
-- Cliff Brunt
No. 14 BYU wins 71-51 to sweep rival Utah
SALT LAKE CITY — BYU had to settle for a sweep of its biggest rival and a second-place finish in the Mountain West Conference.
In a couple of weeks, neither one will matter much.
The 14th-ranked Cougars wrapped up their third sweep of Utah in the last four seasons with a 71-51 win Wednesday night, shortly after another team had already won the Mountain West.
"We made a big statement — and we're not done," said freshman Brandon Davies, who led BYU with a career-high 21 points.
BYU's streak of three straight regular-season conference titles ended earlier in the night when No. 8 New Mexico clinched the championship with a victory over TCU.
The Cougars (27-4, 12-3 Mountain West) knew entering the game that the conference title was already New Mexico's to lose, thanks to the Lobos' victory at BYU on Saturday. So the Cougars vented by clinching a two-game sweep over the Utes in a rout.
"We weren't hanging our head after a loss. We were ready to keep going forward," said Davies, whose previous best was 14 points.
Michael Loyd Jr. added 18 points and Jackson Emery scored 11 for the Cougars, who held Utah scoreless for a stretch of 8:35 between the end of the first half and early in the second. The stifling defense turned a close game into one of the bigger blowouts in the long history of the rivalry.
"That was as good an effort as we've ever had defensively," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "We did a great job of what we wanted to do and we made it tough for them to score."
The Utes missed their first 12 shots of the second half as BYU managed to double Utah's score with about 14 minutes left.
Kim Tillie had 11 rebounds for the Utes (14-15, 7-8), but no Utah player scored in double figures.
Chris Hines came closest with nine points for the Utes, who finished 14 for 52 from the floor and never recovered from committing 13 turnovers in the first half.
"You've got to work for it and we didn't deserve (the) ball to go in the basket. It's a simple thing," said Luka Drca, who was 1 for 8 and finished with eight points in his final home game. "We didn't play together like we talked about before the game."
Utah coach Jim Boylen showed his frustration during the postgame news conference with some terse answers, then a brief verbal exchange with a local columnist.
It was the seventh time BYU has won in the last eight meetings and Cougars fans at the Huntsman Center celebrated just as they did during a win over the Utes in Provo in January, chanting "Just like football!"
Utah got a break when BYU's leading scorer, Jimmer Fredette, got in early foul trouble, but that only made way for Loyd and Davies to carry the offense while all the Cougars played tight defense and rattled the Utes.
"Our first group went in and gave great effort to start. But we actually got better defensively when we substituted," Rose said. "Brandon was really on a roll, and Michael. And that gave us more energy to guard.
Davies went 7 of 9 from the field and pulled down seven rebounds.
Loyd was coming off a career high of 19 points — all in the second half — in Saturday's loss to New Mexico. He did all of his scoring in the first half Wednesday.
BYU closed the first half on a 5-0 run, then scored the first 12 points of the second half as the Utes were missing even on layups.
BYU's lead at halftime was only 36-24, so fans were still into it early in the second half, but that didn't last long. Utah fans barely got the second word of an "air-ball" chant out before Davies picked up the loose ball outside the lane and made a short jumper to put BYU up 41-24.
Utah was just 6 for 21 in the first half and without a field goal from David Foster's layup with 4:59 left in the first half until Hines' jumper with 12:38 remaining in the game.
The Utes' only points during the drought came from the foul line. Tillie finally ended Utah's scoreless slump with two free throws with 14:08 left, drawing a mock cheer from fans of both schools. There was little else to cheer — BYU was leading 48-24 when Tillie went to the line.
-- Doug Alden
Jon Leuer leads No. 15 Wisconsin past Iowa 67-40
MADISON, Wis. — Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon wanted to wave goodbye as winners. For No. 15 Wisconsin, it was even more important for Jon Leuer to show that he's regaining his touch after returning from a broken wrist.
Fortunately for the Badgers, Iowa played along.
Leuer scored 18 points, Hughes and Bohannon got a standing ovation on Senior Night and Iowa didn't offer much resistance as Wisconsin cruised to a 67-40 victory Wednesday.
"If I was a director, I couldn't write a better script than it was tonight," Hughes said.
Hughes scored 15 points while Bohannon added 11 points and a career-high nine rebounds in the final home game for both of the Badgers' senior guards.
"Think about two guys going over 1,000 points in the same (season), playing on NCAA tournament teams, conference championship teams, conference tournament champions — and who knows what happens this year?" Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. "That's pretty exciting. There are a lot of people who would like to be Jason Bohannon and Trevon Hughes. I would."
Wisconsin (22-7, 12-5 Big Ten) turned it into a rout early on, taking control with an 18-0 run midway through the first half.
Aaron Fuller had 14 points for the Hawkeyes (10-20, 4-13), who have lost eight of 10 and will conclude their rough regular season at Minnesota on Sunday.
"We just panicked," Iowa coach Todd Lickliter said. "And when you panic against Wisconsin, you're in big trouble."
Iowa's 40 points tied a season low, and the Hawkeyes shot 3 for 15 from 3-point range.
Lickliter said the Hawkeyes began rushing their offensive possessions as Wisconsin built its lead, playing right into the Badgers' hands.
"Coach said, 'There's no 18-point shot, so we've got to take it one play at a time and try to string them together,'" Fuller said.
They didn't. The Badgers led 36-16 at halftime and Iowa couldn't catch up, as Leuer continued to assert himself in his best all-around performance since returning from a broken left wrist last month. He was 8 for 9 from the field.
"They're good without him, and they're even better with him," Lickliter said.
After scoring 12 points in the first half, Leuer opened the second with a turnaround jumper, hit another jumper a few minutes later, then came up with an emphatic slam dunk on a pass from Hughes to give Wisconsin a 45-20 lead with 14:36 remaining. Leuer then blocked a layup attempt by Brennan Cougill on the Hawkeyes' next possession.
"I think each game he's looked a little bit more comfortable in recognizing game speed and reactions and things like that," Ryan said.
Wisconsin cruised the rest of the way, finishing the season 16-1 at home and 136-11 overall in home games under Ryan.
Hughes and Bohannon exited the game at the 2:14 mark to a standing ovation from the Kohl Center crowd. The team honored Hughes and Bohannon on the court with a video tribute after the game.
Hughes said he was nervous because it was the first time since a high school state tournament that his mother, Twanna Hutchinson, had seen him play at the Kohl Center.
"We didn't win that game," Hughes said. "I didn't play well."
Hughes and Bohannon got off to a strong start by combining to score 12 of the Badgers' first 14 points.
Wisconsin then went on an 18-0 run — including 10 straight points from Leuer, who was playing his fourth game since returning from the injury.
Leuer slammed home an alley-oop pass from Bohannon, then got free for another dunk on the Badgers' next possession. Leuer showed his shooting range on the Badgers' next two trips down the court, draining a pair of 3-pointers.
Later in the run, Hughes made perhaps the most impressive play of the night, stealing the ball from John Lickliter, streaking down the court and flipping the ball up to Keaton Nankivil for an alley-oop dunk.
The Badgers held the Hawkeyes scoreless for more than 7 minutes during their run.
Iowa shot a miserable 6 for 21 from the floor and 1 for 9 from 3-point range in the first half. The Hawkeyes also had eight first-half turnovers.
Hughes said the team needed to carry its emotional play into the postseason.
"Emotion did play a role in tonight's game," he said. "That's the kind of energy we've got to come out and play with in every game."
-- Chris Jenkins
No. 16 Tennessee beats Arkansas 80-73
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl hoped his players would start strong against Arkansas after upsetting Kentucky.
Instead, it took a technical foul on Pearl to fire up the 16th-ranked Volunteers and their fans in an 80-73 win over Arkansas on Wednesday night.
"I was pleased to win the game, but I was hoping to build on how we played Saturday — and we did not," Pearl said. "We didn't play basketball like you need to play basketball in March."
Every time Tennessee (22-7, 10-5 Southeastern Conference) looked poised to finish the Razorbacks off, Arkansas (14-16, 7-8) managed another run to keep the game close.
With 14:53 to go in second half, Tennessee's Cameron Tatum was called for a charge. Pearl was charged with the technical for arguing the foul, and the Vols broke open a close game with a 10-0 run immediately after.
Bobby Maze capped off the run with a long pass between two defenders to J.P. Prince, who dunked it for a 61-48 lead with 11:26 left.
"The crowd was more into it than I've ever seen them into it (after the technical)," Maze said. "Every possession down, they were yelling and screaming. I didn't even know that many people in that arena knew some of those chants they were chanting."
The Razorbacks would not get closer than six points after that. Courtney Fortson led Arkansas with 21 points, but shot just 6-of-17.
"I think they came out with a lot of emotion," Fortson said. "We played pretty hard. They just came out with the victory. It's hard to lose any game. We just got to go back and get better."
The win clinches the No. 3 seed in the East Division for Tennessee in the SEC tournament, while Arkansas was still battling with Mississippi for the No. 2 seed in the West and a first round bye.
Scotty Hopson led Tennessee with 15 points. Seniors Maze, Prince, and Wayne Chism, all finished in double figures on their final night at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Vols shot 54.5 percent for the game, but the Razorbacks stayed in the game thanks in large part to 17 Tennessee turnovers.
"We kept giving them Christmas presents, and it's not even Christmas," Chism said.
Maze hit two 3-pointers to help Tennessee open up the second half on a 10-2 run and take a 49-38 lead with 17:14 left. But the Vols again let Arkansas back in the game.
"March won't last very long if we play like that," Pearl said. "This could have been a letdown. It wasn't a letdown. We were ready to play, but I expected more. That play doesn't win the SEC tournament. That play doesn't win a first round NCAA tournament game."
The Vols only led 39-36 at halftime despite shooting 57.7 percent from the floor to the Razorbacks' 39.4 percent.
"We competed and had some chances to really challenge down the stretch," Arkansas coach John Pelphrey said. "We just did not make our shots."
Tennessee took an early 17-8 lead after Hopson punctuated a 9-0 run with a steal and reverse dunk, but Arkansas used several 3-pointers over the next few minutes to tie the game at 24 with 6:19 before halftime.
Stefan Welsh made a 3-pointer with 4 minutes left in the first half to give the Razorbacks a 31-30 lead, prompting Pearl to call a timeout.
Pearl said he wanted to see the same intensity from the Vols after they upset then-No. 2 Kentucky 74-65.
"I'm raising the expectation at this point," Pearl said. "The games we've won, the games we've lost, I'm fine with every one of them. I'm not OK with the basketball I saw tonight from Tennessee."
Chism, the Vols' all-time leader in games played, is the only member of this senior class to be at Tennessee all four years. UT is 98-36 during his career. He finished with 12 points and six rebounds.
Prince also added 12 for the Vols.
Allen leads No. 20 Temple over Saint Louis 57-51
ST. LOUIS — Temple forward Lavoy Allen was given the green light Wednesday night. He certainly took advantage of it.
Allen had 18 points and 14 rebounds, and No. 20 Temple beat Saint Louis 57-51 to remain tied for first place in the Atlantic 10.
"They were leaving me open from 15 feet out," Allen said. "Coach told me not to hesitate on taking my jump shots."
The Owls (25-5, 13-2), who have won six straight and 14 of 16, kept pace with Xavier for the top spot in the conference after the Musketeers beat Fordham earlier Wednesday night. Both teams have one regular-season game remaining, but Temple holds the tiebreaker and can clinch a share of the league crown and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament with a win Saturday at home against George Washington.
Juan Fernandez added 17 points and Ryan Brooks had 13 for Temple.
Willie Reed led Saint Louis (19-10, 10-5) with 16 points and Christian Salecich added 10.
Allen, coming off a career-high 21 rebounds in a 65-53 win at La Salle on Sunday, posted his 12th double-double of the season. Temple coach Fran Dunphy said when Allen is in a groove, he can make any shot.
"He played great. The numbers he threw up were something," Dunphy said. "And again, that's not the best feature of his game. He's always in the right position defensively. He gives us that anchor."
Defense made the difference for the Owls in holding Saint Louis scoreless for 7:27 late in the second half. Trailing 45-43 with 9:47 left, Temple went on a 14-6 run to end the game.
"I thought we really stuck together on defense down the stretch," Dunphy said. "In that second half, we did a good job of switching."
Temple kept the Billikens off the board for eight successive possessions with the game on the line. Kwamain Mitchell, the leading scorer for Saint Louis, managed just seven points. He entered scoring at a 16.3 clip.
"We picked up our defense and forced them to take some tough shots," Allen said.
Ramone Moore gave Temple the lead for good, breaking a 45-all tie by scoring his only basket of the night with 5:56 left. Allen and Fernandez followed with back-to-back baskets before Mitchell brought Saint Louis within 51-47 with a short jumper that snapped the long scoring drought. Fernandez answered for Temple and Moore added two foul shots seconds later to put the game away.
Saint Louis had won seven of eight. The Billikens jumped out to a 24-15 lead but Temple closed the first half with a 12-2 run to take a 27-26 advantage into the break.
"They were more physical, more aggressive than we were," Saint Louis coach Rick Majerus said. "That hurt us defensively."
The Billikens are in sole possession of fourth place in the conference. The top four teams get a bye in the first round of the tournament, which begins March 9. The Billikens can clinch a bye with a win at Dayton on Saturday.
Temple has won the last four meetings and leads the overall series 4-1. The Owls improved to 12-3 on the road and 13-4 away from home, including neutral-site games.
No. 25 Xavier hands Fordham 20th straight loss
NEW YORK — It would have been easy for Xavier to look past Fordham considering the Rams came into Wednesday night's game on a 19-game losing streak, one of which was a 48-point win by the Musketeers.
It wasn't a huge blowout like the earlier meeting, but No. 25 Xavier beat the Rams 82-56, moving a win closer to at least a share of its fourth straight Atlantic 10 regular-season championship.
"I think our guys, especially the older players, understand we were playing for much more than a game against Fordham," first-year coach Chris Mack said. "We came in knowing we had two games left for a conference championship. I don't think it was very hard to motivate them knowing that they were 80 minutes, now 40, from a fourth straight championship."
Jamel McLean scored 13 of his 16 points in the first half for Xavier, which won its sixth straight and 10th in 11 games. The Musketeers (22-7, 13-2) are tied with No. 20 Temple for first place in the Atlantic 10, and a win in the regular-season finale Saturday against St. Bonaventure would mean at least a share of the title.
"Every game is an important one," point guard Terrell Holloway said. "We know our goal is to go out and win the Atlantic 10 championship and we won't rest for one game or even one practice. We come into every game with the same mindset: that it's important to win."
Xavier moved into the Top 25 on Monday for the first time this season following its 78-76 double-overtime win against Richmond. The Musketeers have been ranked in each of the last four seasons.
Holloway had 14 points for Xavier and Jordan Crawford and Mark Lyons both added 11. Jason Love had eight points and 13 rebounds as the Musketeers finished with a 56-41 advantage on the boards.
Chris Gaston had 15 points and 13 rebounds, the 18th double-double of the season for the freshman, for the Rams (2-25, 0-15), who close their season Friday at Duquesne.
Lyons hit two 3-pointers in Xavier's 12-3 run to close the first half for a 45-31 lead.
The first time these teams met, in Cincinnati on Jan. 31, Xavier led 45-32 at halftime and went on to score 63 points in the second half for a 108-60 victory.
On Wednesday, the Musketeers only had 37 points in the second half but were still able to beat Fordham for an eighth straight time. They improved their record to 18-1 in the series since the schools joined the Atlantic 10 for the 1995-96 season.
Xavier is looking for its eighth Atlantic 10 regular-season title.
"I don't think we put too much pressure on ourselves because when you do that's when you start to fall as a team," McLean said. "We came out here playing the same confident basketball like we've been doing and we do that regardless of the team we play because things can happen on the road and our coaches did a great job of keeping us focused for this road win."
Fordham, which has had one winning season in the A-10, is looking for its eighth conference win over the last three years.
Crawford had the last five points of Xavier's 15-6 run to open the second half. Combined with the 12-3 run to close the first half, the Musketeers went on a 27-9 spurt that made it 60-37 with 15:53 to play.
Fordham interim coach Jared Grasso, who took over when Dereck Whittenburg was fired on Dec. 3, saw his record fall to 1-20.
"We played great, I thought, for 10, 15 minutes. Then we went through a lull where we missed some shots and they extended the lead," Grasso said. "I still thought we played pretty hard but we just ran out of gas. That's why they're a Top 25 team. We've got to keep fighting. We have an 8 a.m. flight to Pittsburgh, then a noon game on Friday and we have to find a way to win."
-- Jim O'Connell
Men's News
Washington looking for payback against Oregon
SEATTLE — The noise of Oregon's celebration is what sticks out to Washington's Quincy Pondexter.
It was early January and Pondexter's Huskies were ranked No. 17, riding an 18-game home winning streak and still expected to be an NCAA tournament lock.
Then Oregon showed up on a Saturday and exposed all of Washington's flaws in a 90-79 win that was the first of five losses in seven games for the Huskies.
Now as the final week of Pac-10 play arrives, Washington is trying to keep its slim NCAA hopes alive. The Huskies have won seven of their last nine and get a chance for some payback against the Ducks on Thursday night.
"I just really remember the echoes of them celebrating after the game. That's something I think we all remember as a team and it really hurt," Pondexter said of the Jan. 2 loss to Oregon. "They played a terrific game against us and capitalized on a lot of our mistakes, and they played good basketball down the stretch. They beat us. They beat us fair and square on our home court, and it's something that has stuck with us for a little bit."
The loss to Oregon might not have held the same impact if not for what took place thereafter. Washington followed up with a pair of lackluster 17-point losses at Arizona State and Arizona, and after winning two games at home, the Huskies were again swept on the road by the Los Angeles schools.
Washington (19-9, 9-7 Pac-10) went tumbling not only from the polls, but from NCAA consideration. And despite going 7-2 over their last nine, including road wins at Stanford and Washington State, the Huskies understand their postseason hopes rely largely on not faltering this weekend at the Oregon schools.
"I think we've done a good job in that aspect of everyone brings it every night," Pondexter said. "There aren't a lot of drop-offs in personnel on our team, and we all know what we have to do and we all want to make the NCAA tournament. That's our no. 1 goal, and it's in the back of our minds nonstop going through all these games."
One major change for the Huskies since their first meeting with the Ducks is consistent production coming from the post, namely the sudden emergence of junior center Matthew Bryan-Amaning. After scoring one point and grabbing three rebounds against Oregon in January, Bryan-Amaning was sent to the bench. During his time as a reserve, something has clicked, and he has started to have an impact after 2½ underperforming seasons.
Beginning with Washington's 79-56 win over Arizona State on Feb. 6, Bryan-Amaning has scored in double figures in six straight games and has grabbed at least five rebounds in each. When Pondexter struggled with his scoring Saturday at Washington State, Bryan-Amaning filled the void. He scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half and grabbed a season-best 12 rebounds in the 59-52 victory.
"I thought about six weeks ago Matthew put it upon himself to come out to practice — for the most part, he had lapses — but for the most part come out to practice and really be focused," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. "And really try to be dialed in to try to be the best that he can be."
Bryan-Amaning's consistency on the inside is crucial for the Huskies not only for the rest of this season but next year as well.
"I'm just being more aggressive, been working really, really hard in practice and trying to keep things simple and play as hard as I can," Bryan-Amaning said.
-- Tim Booth
Women's News & Notes
Which new faces will step up at ACC tourney?
Only one thing is certain for this week's Atlantic Coast Conference women's tournament: Some traditional powers will be heading home early.
Duke, Maryland and North Carolina have combined to win the last 10 championships, and some combination of two of them have met for the title in every year but one since 2001.
There's no way that happens this year. The Terrapins and Tar Heels play in the first round Thursday in Greensboro, N.C., with the winner facing the top-seeded Blue Devils (24-5) in the quarterfinals.
That opens the door for several new faces to make deep runs — possibly all the way to Sunday's championship game.
Like second-seeded Florida State (26-4), which has never advanced past the semifinals. Or No. 3 seed Virginia (21-8), which hasn't won multiple ACC tournament games since 1994. Or even fourth-seeded Georgia Tech (22-8), which for the first time claimed a bye into the quarterfinals.
"I think all of the teams have shown their nights of brilliance," Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "It's been a big year for equity and parity and things of that nature. ... I think that's what's going to be the remarkable thing about what our team did, to be as steady as we were, given the nature of this very volatile environment."
Indeed, heading into the final weekend of the regular season, there seemingly was only one constant: Duke's dominance.
The Blue Devils wrapped up the No. 1 seed with a rout of Virginia, and threatened to turn the tournament into the Duke Invitational, with the only thing standing between them and a 13-1 conference finish was a North Carolina team struggling through its worst season in years.
But in an untimely slip-up, Duke was upset by the Tar Heels to give the Seminoles a share of the regular-season title. The win also provided a glimmer of optimism for North Carolina and perhaps even expose a few flaws in the Blue Devils' lineup.
"I've been in the league a long time, and this year, it's just absolutely crazy," North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said. "I guess that's what makes it so good. It keeps the coaches from getting a lot of sleep at night, because you just never know what's going to happen, and I've just been shocked by some of the things that have happened this year. But I guess that's what ACC women's basketball is all about."
This topsy-turvy ACC season left Hatchell's Tar Heels (18-10), the preseason pick to win the league, falling to the No. 8 seed — though they did play the year without top inside threat Jessica Breland, who continues to recover from an offseason diagnosis of and treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma. The young Terrapins (18-11), who lost graduated stars Kristi Toliver and Marissa Coleman from last year's championship team, slipped to the No. 9 seed. Those two schools have combined to win the last five tournament titles.
Sixth-seeded North Carolina State (17-12), under first-year coach Kellie Harper, won four of five to finish the year, including a season-ending upset of Georgia Tech that knocked the Yellow Jackets from the national rankings. No. 5 seed Wake Forest (17-12) finished at .500 in ACC play for the first time since 1988.
But there might not be a team with more to prove this week than Florida State.
The Seminoles came to Greensboro last year sharing the regular-season title, holding the No. 2 seed and looking like a team ready to take the next step toward becoming the newest perennial contender. Then came an 18-point semifinal loss to Duke that showed just how far they still have to come.
Now, after those season-ending upsets, Sue Semrau's team returns in exactly the same position.
"Our players have been talking about this time, this weekend, for a very long time," Semrau said. "Last year, we were able to have an opportunity to be able to be ACC co-champions of the regular season, and there just wasn't a lot of to-do about that (this time). It's really all about the tournament in everybody's eyes. We've been preparing and hoping to play some of our best basketball this weekend."
-- Joedy McCreary
Tennessee brings 11-game win streak to SEC tourney
DULUTH, Ga. — When the Gwinnett Arena hosted its first Southeastern Conference tournament three years ago, Tennessee fans turned the place into Thompson-Boling South.
Such is life for a program that Pat Summitt has coached to eight national titles, 15 SEC regular-season championships and 13 league tournament titles.
"Obviously we've had our fans travel to Duluth before," Summitt told a Lady Vols radio audience last week, "and we need you there."
Georgia was the only SEC team to beat No. 4 Tennessee this season, but fans of the Lady Bulldogs are unlikely to outnumber the Lady Vols' even though the Georgia campus is only 45 minutes from Duluth.
In the first and second round of the NCAA tournament last year at the Gwinnett Arena, Georgia's support seemed almost equivalent to Florida State's.
But a bigger concern for the No. 22 Lady Bulldogs is the health of senior guard Ashley Houts, who twisted her left ankle while playing the full 40 minutes in the 54-50 win over Tennessee on Jan. 21.
After her injury, the Lady Bulldogs lost five of six, but coach Andy Landers believes Houts has regained some of the burst she was missing in the games that followed the injury.
"It's been a challenge more than anything else," said Landers, whose team ended the regular season by winning three of four. "Unfortunately, the person who has been injured the longest and hampered the most by the injury is Houts. She sets the tone in many ways for our basketball team. When your leader can't go full tilt, it affects the ebb and flow of your team, not just from a playing standpoint but also from a mental standpoint."
Houts is one of five senior guards who are the undisputed leaders of their teams at the Gwinnett Arena.
She joined LSU's Allison Hightower, Mississippi State's Alexis Rack and Bianca Thomas of Ole Miss in being named first team All-SEC. Vanderbilt's guard Meredith Marsh, who helped the Commodores win their second conference title in three years last season, was named second team All-SEC.
"I hope we can look at this game as our season is not over and it depends on how we're going to end the season," Marsh said. "It's up to us and no one can take it from us unless we let them. We have the heart to do it, so I'm excited about it."
South Carolina junior Valerie Nainima, Auburn junior Alli Smalley and Kentucky's A'dia Mathies, who was named this week as SEC freshman of the year, are other leading guards.
Summitt places most of the responsibility on setting up her defensive alignments on guards Angie Bjorklund and Shekinna Stricklen.
Bjorklund joined Hightower and Kentucky's Victoria Dunlap, a junior forward who was named SEC player of the year, as the only players to receive unanimous selections from league coaches.
Summitt is pleased that Stricklen is playing harder as the season runs longer. Tennessee, a winner of 11 straight, beat LSU, Kentucky and Ole Miss last week as Stricklen averaged 15.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists.
The Lady Vols' coach signed out Stricklen and forward Alicia Manning for strong play in a 12-point win over Ole Miss that otherwise left Summitt irritated by other players' inconsistency.
"I told them, 'Maybe you win in the regular season, and you think you're all that,'" Summitt said. "No, because again we always talk about never arriving in this game and you constantly have to work at your game. Stricklen has been working on her game, and it shows. So has Alicia."
Fourth-ranked Tennessee will play its first game Friday against the winner of Thursday's Ole Miss-South Carolina matchup.
No. 22 Georgia can advance to play Mississippi State if it beats Alabama for the 18th straight time in the late game Thursday.
Auburn and Florida will play the second game Thursday to decide who faces No. 19 Kentucky.
Vanderbilt, which seeks its third SEC tournament title in four years, faces Arkansas for the right to play No. 21 LSU.
-- George Henry
Arkansas women's team begins SEC Tournament play
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Arkansas womenÂ’s basketball team will open the 2010 Southeastern Conference Tournament against Vanderbilt.
Arkansas coach Tom Collen says the Razorbacks (12-17) feel good about their performance in road games this season, and anything is possible when they play the Commodores (20-9) at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
Arkansas dropped three consecutive games after winning three in a row at the end of the regular season. The Razorbacks will be led by Lyndsay Harris, who is averaging 12.8 points per game, and Charity Ford who has averaged 12.3 points per game in her final season.
Vanderbilt, coming off a 73-70 loss at South Carolina, is paced by Merideth Marshall's 14.8 points per game and Jence Rhoads' 13.7 points per game.
Fort Lauderdale senior capping off 'Nole career
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — When she finishes her career in a few weeks, Jacinta Monroe will have played more games and blocked more shots than any previous Florida State player.
Along the way she's led the eighth-ranked Seminoles to consecutive regular season Atlantic Coast Conference co-championships and four consecutive NCAA tournaments.
A first-team All ACC pick, Monroe will also finish fourth or higher in scoring and rebounding in Florida State annals. The lanky 6-foot-5 forward needs 10 more blocked shots to move into fifth place on the ACC career list and is 61 rebounds shy of making the league's top 25.
Monroe and the red-hot Seminoles (26-4, 12-2 ACC) meet the winner of the Boston College-Virginia Tech game in the ACC tournament at Greensboro, N.C.
Monroe will step onto the court for a school record 132nd time, giving her another chance to show her passion of the game.
"I love defense," said Monroe, whose 289 career blocks average out to 2.1 a game despite playing roughly only 23 minutes a game over her career.
"I think it's natural knowing when my teammates really, really need me," added Monroe, whose takes the Bill Russell (former Boston Celtics great) route on offense, preferring to set up teammates for scoring.
"She protects everybody on the floor," said Angel Gray, one of three seniors in the Seminoles' starting lineup. "She's my best friend on the floor because if somebody whose quick goes by me, I know she's going to get a block."
Semrau was surprised that Monroe chose the Seminoles, a development that was a big recruiting breakthrough for her in South Florida.
"She was a player I thought would stay close to home," Semrau said. "For us to be a great fit for her has meant so much to us. We knew what she could bring to the program."
Although her game starts with defense, the left-handed Monroe has collected 22 career double-doubles, starting with a 23-point, 21-rebound performance against Alabama-Birmingham in her collegiate debut.
"Nobody knew about her (then)," Semrau said. "Since then, everybody's scouted her, kept her off the boards and then it got tough, everybody knew about her and she didn't have the strength at the time."
Monroe has added 20 pounds since arriving on campus. While she still looks like she might be easy to outmuscle, it's a deceptive appearance.
"It's hard to look at her and believe she's put on weight," said Semrau, who laughed when he recalled Monroe's arrival at Florida State.
"I remember looking at her when she was a freshman and thinking someone's going to break her," Semrau said. "She might be thin, but she's very strong and makes the most of it."
Monroe, who has a quiet, composed presence on the floor and enjoys sitting at home reading or doodling in her free time, takes the praise in stride as well.
"She is the most humble and honest person I've ever met," said Gray, an outgoing Georgian who has roomed with Monroe since arriving together at Florida State in the fall of 2006.
Monroe, who didn't begin playing basketball until the eighth grade and took to the game quickly, winning a starting position on her high school varsity team as a freshman, wants to become an FBI agent whenever her playing career ends,
"I've wanted to be in the police field as long as I can remember," said Monroe, who graduates April 30 with a degree in criminology. "I think TV played a role in that, watching Law and Order and the different police shows that are on."
But right now, and until that day she puts the sneakers away for good, Monroe is policing things for the 'Noles, who carry an eight-game winning streak into the ACC tournament and are winners in 12 of their last 13 games.
"Since the beginning she's changed things for us," Florida State coach Sue Semrau said. "I never believed early on she would be the kind of defender she is. She and (Virginia's) Monica Wright play both ends of the floor better than anybody in our league."
And Monroe takes care of business as quietly on the court as she does off it.
"Being cocky and all that is unnecessary," said Monroe, whose court calmness sets the tone for her teammates. "You just have to have fun with it. You should let your game speak for you."
Lady Lions think defense headed to Big 10 tourn.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State coach Coquese Washington doesn't want her team to dwell on the last month with the Lady Lions headed to the Big Ten tournament.
Penn State (16-12, 8-10) closed the regular season on a 1-8 skid after starting the year 15-4 and breaking into the AP Top 25.
The sixth-seeded Lady Lions go into Thursday's game against 11th-seed Minnesota coming off a 77-68 loss Sunday at Indiana.
But Washington says she hopes her players can build off the second half of that game, when Penn State nearly rallied from a 23-point deficit. Washington says she likes the way her defense came through late in that game, and that the defense will fuel the offense.
Also this week, senior guard Tyra Grant was named to the All-Big Ten first team.
NCAA rejects sanctions appeal from Mo Western
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — The NCAA has rejected an appeal of sanctions imposed on the Missouri Western women's basketball program.
In a decision announced Wednesday, the NCAA Division II Subcommittee on Infractions upheld penalties imposed last year.
Missouri Western was sanctioned for the major infraction of allowing an ineligible athlete to play for two seasons that included a conference championship in 2007. The NCAA also found that a former player received extra benefits from a former coach, which is a secondary violation.
The NCAA put the program on two years' probation, vacated about 50 victories, stripped one scholarship and restricted recruiting for about one year.
In its appeal, Missouri Western contested the findings of violations and argued the penalties were excessive.
See archived 'Sports' stories »
We want our site to be a place where people discuss and debate ideas that foster stronger communities. We built this for you. Please take care of it. Tolerate broad thinking, but take action against obscene or hateful material. Make it a credible and safe place worth preserving and sharing.
E-Mail
Delicious
Digg
Facebook
FriendFeed
LinkedIn
MySpace
Copy to Clipboard
Reddit
Slashdot
StumbleUpon
Tumblr
Twitter
Yahoo! Buzz
